disctrict pictures. 3rd photo: peterson, me, wasden, jensen, pettet, summers
Hello all! Thanks for all who took my subtle hint and emailed me. :) I forgot to mention though, that if you want me to respond back to you personally, I will need your mailing address. If I've sent you a letter before at your current address, no need to worry. For those who have moved or haven't gotten a snail mail letter from me, please send me your address.
Alrighty, now to more important matters.
Wednesday we met with Ronnie and Michael again. We planned to teach them the 2nd half of the Restoration, but that didn't happen. I opened up a can of worms when I asked Michael if he'd read in the BOM and if he had any questions. He had a question from Mosiah 13 about the Law of Moses being fulfilled. He said he just skipped around and read things here and there. Then he brought up that he was really stuck on the necessity of baptism for entrance into heaven. He doesn't see that John 3:3-5 explains that. I don't understand his interpretation of it. As we talked, he brought up more things relating to salvation by grace. I could clearly see that all of his beliefs don't fit together. As a whole, the contradict, and don't make sense. He sees that obedience is important to show our love for God, and that we should follow Christ's example, but that baptism isn't required. I'm stumped on that one. I wish people could see just how illogical their beliefs are sometimes. In talking with Sister Summers, I likened it to people having a few puzzle pieces, and forcing them to fit together into a complete whole. However, to the trained eye, it is seen that things don't exactly fit quite right, but more pieces are needed to make a complete, accurate puzzle. But you have to take the forcibly fit pieces apart before you can add new pieces, otherwise, people don't see a need for more pieces. So, how do you shatter someone's beliefs without offending them? It takes the Spirit. Only then do we have a "trained eye", and only then will they trust us to lead them to the new, complete, accurate puzzle. Michael is a good student of the Bible, and he brings up a lot of things that I don't right away have answers for. Proof that the Bible is a battlefield. However, I don't feel that he's trying to bash with us or prove us wrong, I feel like he's really trying to understand us. That is evidenced in his willingness to read the BOM. He asks some really deep, profound questions that I would love to discuss with him, but unless we establish a foundation, the "building" will fall. As we were trying to teach about the requirements for us to obtain mercy (faith, repentance, etc) and achieve salvation, he asked what salvation was exactly. Oh how I wanted to delve right in to salvation vs. exaltation. But, milk before meat. I hope we can hang on to them long enough to satisfy his thirst. At the end, he asked why, if God gave us the Bible, why would we think that it's incomplete? Why wouldn't God give us everything we need? So, we told him to read 2 Nephi 28-29. He's got so many questions about so many different things. It's like trying to drink out of a firehose. Ronnie asked if the BOM talked much about Jesus Christ, because she wanted to learn more about him. Silly people, OF COURSE it talks about Christ. :) We referred her to 3 Nephi 11-27, Alma 7, and Mosiah 3-5. I wish we could meet with them more than once a week, because they want to be sponges (soak everything up). Michael told us he'd read the Articles of Faith and look up more information on our website. As long as their honest intent keeps up, we're going to dunk them both. It may take a while, but as we focus on helping them feel the Spirit and gain a testimony of the BOM, I know all their questions will come to seem not as important to them (though we will still help them understand and receive answers to their questions).
We stopped in to see Sister Kinnett Thursday morning. We hadn't seen her in a while because she'd been on vacation. We talked a bit and gave her some company (she's single, with no family close by, and her parents have both passed away). We shared a message with her about the importance of scripture study and encouraged her to step up her daily scripture study. She asked how we knew that that was what she needed. Of course we answered that we follow the Spirit. :) She was so grateful for our visit and the message that we shared that was so needed at that time. I love when things like that happen. We didn't know she was out of town for a while, but I hadn't had any impression to go see her during the time she was gone. But that day I did feel the impression. She had just gotten home the day before.
Friday we had interviews with Pres. Collins. He's such a great guy. He has such the gift of discernment. It was great to talk with him and counsel with him and get a sense of his vision for the mission. He is close to the Spirit. Already I feel closer to him than I did with Pres. Corey. I love Pres. Corey, but I didn't feel like he knew me as well as Pres. Collins already knows me. And maybe that's my doing, I don't know. I'm excited to work under Pres. Collins for the remainder of my mission.
We finally got back in touch with Hector again. He went AWOL on us. We talked with him more about the BOM and read 1 Nephi 1-2 with him. He's so open to learning, though I'm not quite sure he realizes all the implications of what we teach. He said he couldn't find his BOM we left him, but he thought his aunt might have taken it to read because she asked him what it was and he told her a little about it and that it was an interesting book. We offered him more for the rest of his family. :) He was supposed to come to church with Matt Denkers that Sunday, but he didn't for some reason. And he's in Chicago this week.
We saw the Booles again, the Egyptian family. We talked with them a little more about the BOM and how it complements the Bible, and then we watched the Restoration DVD. For some reason it showed in black and white, but Abir (the mom) said she liked it because it felt more like it was in that time period. God works in mysterious ways. :) They really liked the DVD and we testified that it really happened and that Joseph Smith was truly called to be a prophet. Abir asked to clarify that Joseph was already Christian, and if Joseph Sr. was previously a member of a Christian church. I think it helped her to start to see that our message is still relevant to those who already believe in Christ. Last time she expressed that the BOM would be great for the Jews that don't believe. So I think that depiction was good for her to see that Joseph was Christian prior to him being called as a prophet, and that Joseph Sr. had a need to be baptized into the true church. They said they just love us and they asked that we would keep in touch once we left. They're so gracious. I see that so much in people from other cultures. Why are Americans not like that so much?
We met with Paul and the Norton's Saturday. We talked about service and contributing to the ward and society. Further evidence that Paul is AWESOME, he asked us if he could have a calling once he was baptized. :) :) :) Paul mentioned that at times he felt that he was surrounded by such good people that he didn't have much to offer or contribute and sometimes questioned if he was good enough. Sister Norton bluntly told Paul that he was good enough because he was awesome, and Brother Norton shared how Paul had blessed his life by seeing his enthusiasm for the gospel. It was sweet! Paul really appreciates the Nortons, so that was cool that they both said those things to him. It means so much more coming from them than it does from us transient missionaries. Paul then asked if Bro. Norton would attend his baptism. Oh, how naive Paul is - basically THE WHOLE WARD is going to be at his baptism. :) I love it!
Sunday we had the opportunity to present a fireside for the high priests and their wives at the Norton's home. Bro. Norton asked us to talk about something related to missionary work. We decided to teach them the Restoration lesson, but apply it to them and make it personal, so that they could see and feel the power/Spirit of the new PMG structure (since most high priests are old. hehe) and so they would gain more trust/confidence in us and our ability to teach their friends. It was a great fireside. The Spirit was there and if nothing else, I grew from the experience. Being able to adapt a lesson to 16 people is not always an easy task. But when the Spirit is involved, I don't have to do much. :)
Yesterday we met with Earl Thomas again, the old man who loves to come and talk our ears off. Towards the end we talked about the importance of prophets and about Joseph Smith and gave him a Joseph Smith pamphlet to read. He drew a connection between Joseph and the founder of their church, as they both recognized a departure from the truth. He said he doesn't see our prophet and apostle as any different than their bishops and superintendents. I was frustrated that he wasn't seeing the difference. In my mind, I determined that he wasn't progressing, and he was set in his ways, so we would probably drop him. However, Sister Summers had a different mindset. Seeing him from the onset of his interactions with missionaries, she has a clearer picture. She was excited about the progress he's made. She said that at first, he was so against the BOM and Joseph Smith and said he was a fraud, but now he accepted a copy of the BOM and he told us that he would be well into it, if not finished with it, by the time we came back next, and he accepted the Joseph Smith pamphlet and would study it out and pray about Joseph Smith. What a different picture she had from mine. But I see her point. Being in his 80s, it's going to take time for him to be able to accept Joseph Smith as a prophet. He has to bring his perception of Joseph from one end of the spectrum to the other. So, I was frustrated that his view is only at say the "zero point" (I'm envisioning a number line), but in relation to where it was ("negative something"), that's pretty good. So, with that clearer picture, we won't drop him yet.
Funny story though. During our visit, Earl mentioned 2 ladies were coming up his driveway. Without even looking, I thought "JWs". I turned, and I was right. Not only was I right though, one of them was a lady named Sharon that we tracted in to and we've talked with briefly on two occasions. I wondered if Earl would let them in. He politely said he had company and we were discussing religion. Oh, I'm so glad they didn't ask to join and that he didn't invite them. That would've been awkward. So, in addition to teaching Earl more about Joseph Smith, we saved him from the JWs that day. :)
We stopped in on Farduce last night (Muslim lady from Syria that we gave an Arabic BOM to a while back). She let us in and we talked with her a bit. We asked if she'd read more in the BOM, and she said she'd finished it! She said she loved her book and that it was magic. :) (She also said that if she said anything bad about Jesus, "God punch me". hehe.) She herself brought up the importance of studying the BOM and learning all the connections and that it was so much more than just a story. She said the BOM helped her learn more about Jesus and love him more (though she still puts Mohammed and Jesus on the same plane). She really felt the Spirit of the BOM. The language barrier is still so hard though. And I don't think she quite understands that there are MANY different sects of Christianity that have differing believes. She told us she talked with her sister-in-law about us and wanted her to sit down with us too, but she declined, and Farduce couldn't understand why. She gave Farduce a Bible, and Farduce didn't quite understand that the BOM is different from the Bible but teaches the same gospel. It took us quite a while to help her understand that concept. She's hung up on the idea that God is Jesus' Father, since "God not married". Muslims don't see God as our Father, and think it's almost revolting for us to claim such a notion. For them, God has no form, is not male or female, etc. Next time we will teach her about the nature of God.
Lots of things. I can't remember if I mentioned this already or not, but I'll write it here to be safe. We committed the Norton's to the 21 day member missionary promise (pray night and day about specific people to hear the gospel, read scriptures daily, look for opportunities to invite people to learn, for 21 days and the Lord promises that you will have someone to refer to the missionaries by the end of 21 days). On day 10, Brother Norton called and said he has a friend that really wants to meet with us. We set up an appointment with her and them for next week. How awesome is that?! And it didn't even take the whole 21 days! I know that the Lord blesses us as we seek opportunities. I love the Nortons. They are so willing to commit to what we ask them to do, and then they do it, and they get results fast!
Enjoy Pioneer Day and any other summer festivities. Take care. Love you all.
sister humpherys
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